Rotarian Shirley Antes, who is the executive director for the Emporia Community Foundation, pinch-hit for the Never Let Go Fund. This fund started in 2013 by Sandy Solano to help families of children diagnosed with cancer from $538 earned from a garage sale. The fund received a boost of over $8,400 in 2014 from a donation from the Dirty Kanza organization, and the fund now offers to assist families across a seven-county area for medical, travel and lodging expenses. The maximum grant per family is $2,000 over a 12-month period.
Bill Barnes, Chairman of the Board of the Emporia Community Foundation, announced that Shirley Antes will be retiring as Foundation Executive Director effective this fall after a new Executive Director is named. During her tenure, Shirley doubled the number of funds held at the Emporia Community Foundation. The past year, $90,000 of scholarships were paid out. Under her leadership, Match Day was started and has grown in funds raised from $61,000 in 2014, to $120,000 in 2015, to $180,000 in 2016. The 2017 Match Day is on November 13 with the largest number of organization participating - 25.
Bill announced that the Fund for the Future was also started to raise funds for the operations of ECF. The goal is to raise $2 million by 2025.
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